Today the newest Kodak products are being revealed at a media event in NYC. Stay tuned for more posts on some of the coolest gadgets coming soon!

In our own way, each of us is truly a part of history - all of the things we do each day affect the people around us, influencing in some way the course of both our and others' lives.  While all of these things may be important, we also generally understand that some things probably are more important than others - my 8-year-old son may not remember where he left his glasses, but he can recount - with great detail - his plays from little league baseball this summer.  Sometimes, you just know that what you're doing will have a lasting impact - on your family, or an entire community.  Or even the world.  

Art Cosgrove is a Kodak retiree who worked first hand on the Lunar Orbiter program that photographed the moon in the late 60's to search for safe landing locations for the Apollo missions.  Art was part of the Kodak team directly involved in this program, and was there when the first high-resolution images of the moon were received on Earth over 40 years ago.  With last week's anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, I had an opportunity to talk to Art to learn more about the Lunar Orbiters - giving me the chance to have a conversation with someone who really did make history.  


How were you involved in the Lunar Orbiter missions?

To answer that, it probably helps to explain how the Lunar Orbiter sent images of the moon to earth.  It was a three-step process - first, images were captured by the orbiter's camera using film, the film was processed on-board the orbiter, and then the resulting images were scanned and transmitted to earth as a video signal.  Kodak was responsible for the image data received from the orbiters, and provided video engineers to monitor this data as it was received.  I was one of three video engineers working with this data as it was received by one of three Deep Space Network ground receiving stations on Earth - for the first Lunar Orbiter mission, I was at the receiving station in Australia, but also worked at the Spain and California stations for the other Orbiter missions.  


You must have been one of the first people to actually see high-resolution images of the moon's surface - right?

I was - but not in the way you might think.  Remember that the technology then was very different from what is available today - we weren't looking at an image displayed on a monitor, but a raw video signal being sent from the orbiter.  This signal was sent directly to a film recorder, but I would also monitor it on an oscilloscope as it was being received in real time - a flat line was a smooth surface, while "bumps" in the trace corresponded to the edges of craters.  So I could see right away what type of terrain the orbiter was looking at.  After the signal was written to the film recorder, we would process the film and review it before sending it to Rochester - so I saw actual pictures of the moon's surface before almost anyone else, too.  Because I saw these images before they were even sent to NASA, I ended up as one of the first people ever to see an image of the far side of the moon (the side that normally faces away from the Earth). 

How did it feel when you saw the first signals from the first orbiter and knew that knew the entire system was working?

Man, it was exciting!  Really, it's hard to describe the emotions, the pride of knowing that you're involved in this enormous undertaking.  Here I was, a young kid right out of school, now spending 12 - 14 hours a day talking directly to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as these pictures came in.  Knowing that you have a part - a major part - in this, was amazing.  There were certainly other parts of my career where I was excited about the work I was doing, but I never had the level of intensity that I had with this program.  It was a very exciting time in my life, where I was seeing the world, experiencing new cultures - and being a part of this historic undertaking.



Did you appreciate that you were involved in something historic?

Absolutely.  The Lunar Orbiters were considered part of the Apollo program, and everyone understood the importance and significance of that entire effort.  My personal sense was "this is history" - and I was not only living it, but playing a key part in it.

About two years after the last Lunar Orbiter mission, Apollo 11 left the Earth heading for a lunar landing on Tranquility Base - a location that was finalized in a large part based on the information collected by the Lunar Orbiters.  Were you worried about that - did you think that you had collected was good data?

We definitely thought that data from the Orbiters was good.  The images we collected looked pristine, and we had a lot of them.

How important do you think Kodak was in preparing for the Apollo landings?

There really was no one else that could have developed the technology that ended up in the Lunar Orbiters.  Kodak had a lot of unique experience working in systems for aerial reconnaissance (of the Earth), and the Lunar Orbiters were build on the shoulders of that technology.  For example - on an extended space mission, you have to deal with the potential impact of high radiation levels on film.  At that time, no one really knew what those actual effects would be, but Kodak had physicists who had a lot of experience working film, and who were very good at hypothesizing about what would happen in space.  That experience was inside Kodak, and was vital to the successful design of the Orbiter.


What are you doing now?

Keeping very busy!  I retired in early 2006 after over 40 years at Kodak.  During my last years at Kodak, I represented Kodak on several committees defining broadcast standards for digital TV and digital cinema, and I still monitor those activities.  I've also been doing some personal travel - my wife and I have spent the last two winters in Florida Keys, and this past spring we travelled to Iceland and took a cruise on the Baltic Sea. 
 

The KODAK Gallery has launched a new site (KODAK Gallery - Professional Prints) offering a portfolio of products for the serious digital photographer seeking high-quality prints with print and service options which were not previously readily accessible to all photographers.  I recently ran the new site through its paces and was very impressed with quality of both the services and the prints - the print quality is remarkable!

Once you access the site, you can easily begin to place an order using the files you have in your personal Gallery albums - site navigation is straightforward.  Several unique paper options caught my eye, including 'Metallic' prints and 'True Black-and-white' prints.  Conventional color prints are produced using KODAK PROFESSIONAL SUPRA ENDURA VC Digital Paper (Luster 'E' surface).  Metallic Prints are produced using KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Metallic Paper (Glossy 'F' Surface).  True black-and-white prints are delivered on matte surface paper.  A wide range of print sizes are available (4x6 through 20x30 inches) , and the print prices are very competitive , for example an 8x10 print is as low as $ 4.25, and a 16x20 print is as low as $19.99.

I easily submitted an order for a variety of print sizes and surfaces from files I know well and have printed many times using a several hard-copy output technologies (silver halide, thermal dye sublimation, and inkjet).  I purposely selected image files which are not easy to print to meet my preferences.  My first order included prints on KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA VC Digital Paper and KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Metallic Paper in sizes ranging from 8x10 to 16x20 inches.  I optimized the images in Adobe Photoshop prior to uploading them to my Gallery account.

Two color management options are available:  'Kodak Perfect Touch' and 'Professional Color Management'.  When 'Professional Color Management' is selected, a professional color specialist will review each of your image files for optimal color balance, color reproduction, neutral tone reproduction, and print density.  I selected 'Professional color management' for all the prints I ordered - and all I can say is WOW!  In each print I received, neutral tones remained  neutral, highlight and shadow details were maintained, and the flesh tones were correct.
 


Service times are very impressive.  I submitted two orders of equal complexity a week apart.  Choosing the standard (free) shipping option of 3-10 days, I was very pleasantly surprised when the first order arrived at my door in 3 days, and the second order was received in 5 days.  To verify the consistency of the printed images , I included a standard digital test target for 8x10 prints with each order.  The week-to-week consistency of the print quality was very good.



Each shipment was perfectly packaged, all prints are shipped flat.  16x20s were taped onto rigid corrugated packaging and the emulsion surface was protected with a thin foam sheet.  The 8x10s were protected in glassine envelopes. There were no bent corners, no scuffs, and no kink marks.  The prints were truly borderless, no final trimming was necessary.  The extent of the packaging was an obvious extension of the pride and workmanship that the Gallery invests in each print they produce.
 


I was especially interested in the option of ordering metallic prints and made that choice for several images.  The resulting images were striking, demonstrating the metallic effect with a full tonal range.  All of the metallic prints were made from the same image files as the normal prints, demonstrating the positive impact of 'Professional Color Management'.
 
I also assessed the 'True black-and-white' option, receiving prints which were neutral in tone, and printed correctly with a full range of tones from D-min to D-max. 
 

 
It's easy to sum up - KODAK Gallery - Professional Prints delivers top-notch prints and services at very attractive prices!